The awards show is January 10 on NBC hosted by Ricky Gervais. First off, let’s look at something AWESOME here. ‘MAD MAX: FURY ROAD‘ is nominated for BEST PICTURE. It needs to win. It should win. And if does win, we all go streaking. That being said…I can’t believe that ‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl‘ was not nominated for anything. Come on. It’s one of the BEST films of the year. It’s also interesting to see no love for the final season of ‘Mad Men’ her either. Oh well.

Emma Donoghue wrote what has become a sensational multi-award winner in ‘ROOM‘, then she wrote a screenplay and worked with director Lenny Abrahamson to bring the final product to the big screen. ‘ROOM‘ is incredibly moving, emotional in ways I didn’t really anticipate with an edge-of-your-seat thriller sensation as well.

Comedy mastermind Judd Apatow is back this year with a new feature film called ‘Trainwreck‘ and is his best film since ‘Knocked Up‘. That was eight years ago. Sure, Apatow has written and produced dozens of films since then, but has only really directed two other feature films since, being ‘Funny People‘ and ‘This is 40‘. The usual actors are nowhere to be seen in ‘Trainwreck‘ either. There is no Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Jason Segel, Martin Starr, or even James Franco to be seen anywhere on screen. Actress and comedienne Amy Schumer wrote the screenplay here for Apatow to direct and the two are a perfect pair.

Podcast #54 is here, and it was a great show. Our own Gwen Reyes from FreshFictionTv was here along with Susan Kamyab from ThisChixFlix, Gadi Elkon from SeligFilmNews, Adam Conway from the Angelika Film Center and myself. We discuss the first ten films that were announced for the 2015 Dallas Film Festival, ‘50 Shades of Grey‘, ‘The Kingsman‘, and we Re-Cast ‘The Breakfast Club‘ on its 30-year anniversary. It was a lot of fun to say the least. And please let us know what you think by going to our FACEBOOK page and TWITTER page, which you should visit to catch up on all the latest information. And don’t forget to visit iTunes and Stitcher to subscribe to our podcast. Enjoy the show and see you next week! Thank you for listening.

The guy who brought us ‘The 40 Year Old Virgin‘, ‘Knocked Up‘, and ‘Funny People‘ has a new film called ‘Trainwreck‘. Yes, Judd Apatow is back in the director’s seat again, this time with the beautiful comedienne Amy Schumer in the lead role. Apatow has really evolved as a filmmaker since ‘The 40 Year Old Virgin‘ in telling better and more personal stories of relationships, but still having those hilarious dick jokes and gross-out gags to make us belly laugh.

The movie theater chains across America are plagued with sequels, reboots, and remakes these days. It seems like almost every film out there is either a sequel or a remake of an older film, leaving the original indie films left out to dry for the more independent theaters or video-on-demand. While you want these sequels and remakes to be just as good as the original or first film, most of them fall a little short, or are down right terrible. There are only a select few sequels that receive the praise and box office power that have audiences across the globe cheering its name. And I’m happy to report that ‘22 Jump Street‘ falls into that category, maybe even being towards the top of that list.

Judd Apatow has made a name for himself in the film biz. He is responsible for such comedies as ‘The 40 Year Old Virgin‘, ‘Knocked Up‘ and ‘This is 40‘. He is now attached as director to Universal’s ‘Trainwreck‘, set to drop on July 24, 2015. Barkhad Abdi, Mike Birbiglia and Jon Glaser have already been cast. Tilda Swinton, Vanessa Bayer, John Cena and Ezra Miller have joined the talented cast as well. Amy Schumer, Bill Hader and Brie Larson have been attached to star with a script written by Schumer who is also helping to develop the project. Apatow is producing through Apatow Productions.

We have a brand new trailer with new footage for ‘22 Jump Street‘, the sequel to 2012’s ‘21 Jump Street‘ reboot that starred Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Ice Cube, Rob Riggle, Brie Larson, and Dave Franco. It was a surprise hit and did very well with critics. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are back directing the sequel, which they are hot off the press tour for their amazing ‘LEGO Movie‘. Michael Bacall is also back as the film’s writer.

So we all know by now that Paramount is rebooting ‘Terminator‘ with director Alan Taylor at the helm. Taylor recently directed ‘Thor: The Dark World‘ along with a bunch of episodes of ‘Game of Thrones‘ and numerous other HBO series. We are hearing now that Taylor and Paramount are wanting either Emilia Clarke or Brie Larson to play the iconic role of Sarah Connor. The new ‘Terminator‘ reboot will be released in July of 2015 with every other big movie.

Here is Joseph Gordon Levitt’s debut as a writer/director/actor all in the same film, which is called ‘Don Jon‘. This movie at its core shows a simple man’s transition from an unlikable Guido sex-obsessed douche-bag into somewhat more a friendlier human being who is capable of having meaningful relationships. Levitt’s directorial and writing debut is quite fun and a tad-bit meaningful, but is often quite repetitive as we go along with his character, who himself can’t seem to stop doing several habits. Levitt and his love interest Scarlett Johansson should draw a decent crowd at theaters, considering the adult subject matter, but I see this making more money on home video than in theaters.

Destin Daniel Cretton’s film ‘Short Term 12‘ is in my Top 5 films of the year. This candid look at life in a big group foster home for trouble kids is natural, endearing, and brutal all at the same time. I was completely moved and fell in love with each character in its 96 minute run-time, and didn’t want to leave them when the credits started to roll. This film is more of an ensemble drama with Brie Larson and John Gallagher Jr. taking the more meaty roles. This captivating film will pull at the heart strings, but won’t leave you depressed like so many of these similar films have done before. I cannot wait to see this again and again.

SXSW 2013 is coming up and we are very excited about it. The lineup for the film portion of the festival has just been announced and Joss Whedon’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ will debut at the festival, as well as the remake of ‘The Evil Dead‘, ‘The Incredible Burt Wonderstone‘, and ‘Spring Breakers‘. Plus much more. Below is the full list of movies. I can’t wait. Who’s going?

The 2013 Sundance Film Festival is in full preparation mode as it will start January 17-27 and will showcase 113 featur length films, which 98 of them are premieres from over 32 countries. Here is the full list of films that will be shown in all competitions as well as the non competition films. Hopefully it won’t be too terribly cold in Utah this year. Some of these films look AMAZING!

“The 2011 Toronto Film Festival has unveiled the first part of its slate, and announced that the Davis Guggenheim-directed U2 documentary From The Sky Down will open the festival, which will run from Sept. 8-18.” In addition to U2, there are quite a bit of amazing sounding films. Below is the official list of films that have already been locked into place for the festival. Tons of stars and great sounding movies.